Hunting and fishing boat



(No Model.) G. H. NYE.

HUNTING AND FISHING BOAT.

No. 349,316. Patented Sept. 21, 1886.

IIVI/E/VTOR symy WIT/M8855: 9. )(51 mm.

ATTORNEY Ian. D. C.

N. PETERS. mum. thogrup UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. NYE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HUNTING AND FISHING BOAT.

.GPECIEICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,316, dated September 21, 1886.

I Application filed February 19, 1886. Serial No. 192.574. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. NYE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Ohicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hunting and Fishing Boats, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in which Figure I is a perspective representation of my improved boat with its attachments as it is on the water, with the hunter concealed in the tent; Fig. II, a planor top view of the boat with the tent removed from over the hunters seat to the aft portion of the boat for the convenience of giving the hunter a clear field for shooting. Fig. III is a longitudinal vertical section of the boat and its attachments. Fig. IV is a perspective representation of the tentframe; Fig. V, an enlarged perspective representation of the hunters seat removed from the boat, this seat being employed in deep water. Fig. VI is a perspective representation of the hunters seat employed in shallow water, and Fig'iVII shows a plan of the bottom of the seat at Fig. VI and the means for connecting it.

This invention relates to a hunting-boat of novel construction. The purpose sought is to place a hunter on shallow or deep water, so

concealed as not to be noticed by birds or ani mals to be shot, and at the same time give the hunter instantaneous freedom for shooting. This I accomplish bya flat-decked boatof very light draft, and a hunters seat therein, which may be manipulated to project below the bottom of the boat for deep water, or only to go to the bottom of the boat for shallow water, and in a sliding tent which may be moved instantaneously from over the hunter to give shooting-room. There is a bulwark around the fore and aft portionsof the boat, preferably of rubber, by means of which the deck, except that portion under the tent, can be safely flooded with water, and grass, sods, or weeds placed in the water to conceal the structure, and to the same end grass or vines may be hung over the tent, leaving spaces for looking out through pocket-ports.

' A represents the boat proper, which I find it proper to make fourteen feet long over all,

four feet beam, four inches depth of hold in the middle, and tapered by a suitable curved line to the ends, where there practically is no hold, the transverse bottom lines being straight. These proportions, however, may be changed and the bout serve a good purpose in some hunting-fields.

Through the middle portion of the boat is formed what I term a seat-opening, whose sides and ends are formed by pieces of lumber B, extending from the bottom. boards of the boat to'a point about two inches above the deck 0, the connection of the part B being water-tight.

On the fore and aft portions D E of the deck are formed the bulwarks F, of stiff sheetrubber (so as not easily to be broken) to form compartments for covering the deck, outside of the tent, with water, to be dipped from the stream, to conceal the boat from the view of birds or game.

The inner bottom portion of the part B, surrounding the opening through the boat, is provided with lugs G, by which, and by means of screw-bolts H, put through then? and into a bottom part, I, the boat-hull is made complete for shallow water, and a recess is formed for the hunter to crouch in. \Vhcn the boat has reached water sufficiently deep, this bottom part I is to be removed and laid on the deck, and a chairshaped seat, J K, swung down through the openingin the boat, as shown at Fig. 3, so as to bring its top flanged edges, L, onto the top of the part B, to which it maybe held by a hook, if desired. This chair-shaped seat is, for convenience, hung to the part 13, whereby it may be turned over, as shown by dotted lines Z, when not used as a seat in the boat, and thus always be in position to be set in the hole for use.

I prefer that the hull of the boat be made in compartments which are water-tight, or as nearly so as possible, so that in case of injury toone or more compartments there will be sufficient air-chambers uninjured to float the boat and its load. I have found a demand for very narrow boats of this kind, and to prevent their capsizing I find it necessary to err tend one or more arms out from the sides of 100 the boat, and on the ends of the arms aifix airtight bulbs. The bulbs may be of sheet metal;

but I prefer rubber, which can be blown up with air, for the reason. that in a collapsed state they are more readily transported. One set of these arms and bulbs is shown at a I), Fig. 2, the inner ends of the arms a being held in fixed positions by being inserted in sockets c c on the deck.

The tent consists of a bent sill, M, which, is made to form a circle, except a space in front for the ingress and egress oi the hunter. Sceured to this sill are a series of bent hoops, N, which serve the purpose of supporting a cloth or other suitable light covering, 0, for concealing the hunter and protecting him from the inclemeney of the weather. I prefer that the doorway or opening to the tent be closed by astationary light door, S, which consists of a light frame covered with fabric-I mean a door that is stationary with reference to the movement of the tent backward from it, but a door whose frame part is removable from sockets It attached to the fore deck or to the frame part B of the hold through the deck. Thetent may have a flap-door of canvas; but by its use the hunter cannot so readily free himself for shooting. To the ends of the tent-sill are secured forked attaching-guides T T, which engage and run on track-rods U, attached to the boat at and above the sides of the seat-opening, and to middle of the sill, at the back of the tent, isa roller,W'. suitably pivoted and made to run on atrack,V, the roller havingagrooved periphery to follow its track, so that by itand the guides T and rods U the tent has a suitable support, and can be run instantly back from the door S, and at the same time the tent can be removed from the track by lifting the roller \V from its track V and swinging it to one side to disengage the guides TT from the rods U. A suitable number of port or lookout holes, ff, are formed in the tent,and over them are placed pocket-covers y, for closing them, when desired.

It has been the custom to form cockpits through hunting-boats, and to suspend from the under side of such cockpits a foot-stand, which may be adjusted to any desired height as the depth of the water may admit, or as may be required by the hunter, and it has been the custom on such boats to surround the cockpits with an upwardly-projecting stationary frame to serve as a blind. My device forgiving the hunter aposition down in the boat differs from the foregoing footstand orbellows, in that I provide achair which,when sunk below the bottom of the boat, is as strong as any portion of the craft, and is not destructible by contact with rocks or snags. Further than this, a foot-stand and chair are furnishedin one article of construction, for use in deep water, and one which can be knocked down, and by the use of a part thereof and a bottom board form a cockpit with a solid bottom.

A suitable number of rubber button-valves, h, are made to cover openings in the bulwark F,fo r drawing off the water from the deck.

The tent-cover is removable from the hoops or bows N, and the bows are removable from the sill M, so that the several parts can be packed in a knockdown shape for shipment.

In case of leakage the water can be drawn off by means of plug-stoppers min the part B.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The hunters seat and foot-stand J K, the seat J being combined in one piece with the foot-stand and located below the deck of the boat, and the foot-stand K projecting below the seat, and the one article hinged to the frame B or cockpit, so as to be brought down into the water for use or carried on deck, as specified.

2. The tent M N O, forming a blind and provided with a roller, \V, which runs on a track, V, on the deck oi the boat, and with guides 'l '1, attached to thesill M, and combined with and made to run on track-rods U U, to permit the tent to be moved from over the cockpit, with a stationary door, S, afiixed to the boat and made to close the opening in the tent when it is over the cock-pit, as specified.

GEORGE H. NYE.

Witnesses:

G. L. CHAIIN, Vim: H. Moonn. 

